Crate.



G. SNHTH.

(IRA-TE.

APPLICATION man 0CT-i3,19I5.

2 SHEETS -SHEET l- Patented July 10, 1917.

6. SMITH.

v CRATE.

APPLICATION HLED OCT-13. I915- Patented July 10, 1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

mun

Illllll ll mu Patna anion. I

GREEN 'swirrn, or PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

CRATE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented July 1M), 1911?.

Application filed October 13, 1915. Serial No. 55,706.

To oll whom'z't may concern:

. vBe it known that I, GREEN SMITH, a citi- Zen of the United States, residing at Philadelpl1ia,'in the'county of Philadelphia and State of Pennsylvania, have invented new and useful Improvements in Crates, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to crates and more particularly to collapsible crates or boxes and has for its object the provision of a simple and efficient construction wherein Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse sectional view taken on the line 3-3 of'Fig. 1,

Fig. 4 is a vertical longitudinal sectional view taken on the line 4-4: of Fig. 1,

v Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the crate in collapsed position,and I Fig. 6 is a view illustrating the auxiliary partition in its folded cond tion.

The improved crate includes a bottom section comprising a box-like member having an open top.

The side flanges 2 of said bottom 1 have hingedly secured thereon, as at'3, foldable side members 4. The members 4 are of a length equaling the length of the sides 2, and the hinges 3 are so arranged as to permit of the members 4 being folded over the end members 5 of the bottom 1, when the crate is collapsed. The numerals 6 designate the end members, the same having their lower, edges provided with dowel pins 7 which are adapted to be received in sockets 8 in the upper edges of the ends 5 of theba'se 1.

The ends 6 at their upper edges and adjacent their ends are provided with pivoted spring catch members 9. Each of the catch members is preferably formed from a single strip of suitable material, such as wire, one of the ends of the same being bent and inserted in the upper edges of the ends 6, so that the said members are transverse partitions 13- 13.

pivotally connected with said sides, and the opposite or outer ends of said members are,

likewise bent to provide downturned tongues 10 which, when swung, are adapted to en gage wi h the outer facesrofthe side members dead so retain the sides ina locked position upon the end members 6. The

members 4; preferably have their outer corhers notched, as at 4:, to receive the tongues of the spring catch members 9.

The sides 2.and the ends 5 of the lower section 1 arecentrally provided with spacer cleats 1111, arranged in pairs, the said cleats affording guideways for the opposite ends of transverse partitions 12 and 13 respectively. The partition 12 preferably comprises a single member which is of a width equaling the distance between thesides 2 and the bottom section 1 as well as the distance between the hinged side sections 4. connected with the said bottom section 1, and the partition 12 is centrally provided upon its opposite faces with cleats 1d-14E to receive the inner ends of the It will thus be noted that the partition 13 comprises two separate members and each of the said memhers is centrally formed upon its opposite.

faces with spaced cleats 1515 which aline with similar spaced cleats 1616 upon the side members 2 of the base. Likewise the partition 12 centrally between its connection. with the partition 13 and the side members of the crate is formed with spaced cleats 17-17 registering with similar cleats 18-18 in the end members 5, and if desired, in the end sections 6 of the crate. All of these cleats are adapted to serve as guideways for the ends of partition members 20. These partition members preferably comprise a. plurality of hinged sections, four in number, which may be "folded one upon the other, when not in set up position, and arranged within the lower compartment, when the crate is collapsed. The numeral 21 designates the pivotal connecting member for the leaves of the partition members 20.

The crate, it will be noted, by the arrangement of the partition members 12 and 13 may have both its upper and lower sections divided into four separate compartments, preferably the partition 12 only projects above the lower section 1, but as illustrated by the drawings the same may extend to the top of the crate, the same securingelement,

of a cotter pin 31.

or closure for-the device;

having its outer edge in a plane with the outer edges of the upper section of the crate, and the members I mentioned compartments each into four separate compartments, and soit will be noted that a great number of compartments are provided by the crate.

The side. 2 of the bottom 1, below the hinges 3, are formed Withalining, substantially rectangular openings 22, and the sides 4 are likewise provided with similar openings 23.

The numeral 25 designates the flanged top This closure has two of its oppositelydisposed flanges 2626 provided with openings 27 which are adapted to register with the openings 23 when the crate is in its set up position or with the openings 22 when the crate is in its collapsed position, and passing through the openings in said flanges 26 of the top orclosure 25 and through either of the openings 22 and 23 are bars 28. Each of these bars has one of its ends formed with an offset or angular portion 29, and its opposite end provided with an opening 30 and passing through the said openings and contacting with'one of the flanges 26 is a preferably in the nature \Vhen the device is to be collapsed or folded the partitions 20 are swung against each other upon their pivots 21 an inserted in the lower flanged section 1. The partitions 12 and. 13 are likewise arranged in the said bottom section 1, as are the removable ends 6. The hinged members 4 are then swung over the upper edges of the flanged bottom sections 2, as illustrated in Fig. 5 of the drawings and the flanged closure 25 is arranged over the bottom 1. The openings 27 in the flanges 26 of the top member 25 are brought to aline with open1ngs22 in members 9 serve only to the side members 2 of the bottom, and the bars 28 are-passed through each pair of alining openings, and the cotter pins 31 are inserted through the openings 30 in the ends of the bars 28, thus locking the device in its knocked-down condition and securely retaining the parts thereof in the bottom member 1 of the crate. The spring catch hold the members 4 and 6 in their upright condition so that proper articles may be introduced into the crate, while the closure member .25 in combination with the bars 28 serve to retain 20 divide theaforecleats upon oppositely the crate in both its set up and knockeddown positions.

From the above description, taken in c011- nection with the accompanying drawings, the simplicity of the device, as well as the advantages thereof will, it is thought, be perfectly apparent to those skilled in the art to which such invention ap'pertains without further detailed description.

Having thusdescribed the invention, what I claim is:

l. A crate including a flanged bottom, side members hingedly connected with the bottom, removable end members upon the bottom, clamping means between the sides and ends, a flanged closure, removable means for securing the same to the crate, main partitions arranged one at a right angle to the other to divide the crate into compartments, auxiliary partitions in each of the compartments,.and each of said auxiliary partitions comprising a plurality of plates having their endshingedly connected.

2. A collapsible crate including a flanged bottom having hinged sides secured thereto, removable ends upon the bottom, catch elements between the sides and ends, spaced the flanges of the bottom, a partition. engaging between {two .pairs of disposed cleats, spaced cleats upon the said partition, second partition members en aging between the referred to cleats and t e, remaining cleats in the bottom section, auxiliary partitions comprising a plurality of plates having their ends pivotally connected, whereby the said plates may be folded one the said platesmay be swung and arranged between the flanges and the referred to partitions' to produce auxiliary compartments in the crate, a flanged closure for the crate, means comprising openings in the flanges of the said closure through openings in the hinged sides to assist in maintaining the crate in its set up condition, and said bars designed to also pass GREEN. SMITH. Witnesses THEODORE RICHARDSON, CHARLES P. HARDY.

copies at this patent may be obtained for five cents em, by addressing the Commissioner of Fatenta,

Washington, D. G.

upon the other and whereby" bars passing through 

